Matrescence: On Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood

by Lucy Jones

Early neuroscientific research on humans is now showing that caregiver brains experience significant plasticity, even without the experience of pregnancy. Hands-on caring shapes brain circuitry and causes other biological changes. In 2020, a groundbreaking study showed that having a baby changes a father’s brain anatomy.[16] The brains of men were studied before their partners became pregnant and after the baby was born. First-time fathers showed a significant reduction in cortical volume and thickness. The higher the volume reduction, the stronger the father’s brain responses to pictures of his baby. Other studies found that the hands-on time a father spends with an infant, and even how affectionate he is, is associated with different hormonal and neural changes, such as the reduction of testosterone, and increases in oxytocin and the level of activity in the brain’s reward systems.[17],[18]